Founded in 1987 by Daniel Johnson, the Texas Early Music Project is dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music through performance, recordings, and educational outreach.

TEMP 2016-2017 Season

TEMP 2016-2017 Season at a glance

Impetus: The Movements, changes, and innovations of six centuries

Like the universe, the world of music is constantly in motion. Techniques change; instruments change; form and function change.Movement, change, development: These are the themes that Texas Early Music Projectexplores in its 2016-2017 season.

ALL DONORS WHO CONTRIBUTE $500 OR MORE MAY JOIN THE SEASON SUBSCRIBERS IN THE PREFERRED SEATING AREA OF THE VENUES!

J.S. Bach didn’t appear out of nowhere. Dietrich Buxtehude, who has been called “the father of German musicians,” heavily influenced Bach; Buxtehude, in turn, was influenced by Heinrich Schütz, who along with Bach, is considered one of the most important German composers of the 17th century. Featuring Schütz's Musikalische Exequien and Buxtehude's Herzlich lieb hab' ich.

Expelled from Iberia in 1492, the Sephardim fled to new many new lands, including the Middle East and the Balkans. The haunting music of the Sephardim in the Diaspora reflects their longing for return to Iberia, while adapting their music and traditions to their new homelands.

Experience the beauty, brilliance, and passion that the best composers in Italy, France, and England instilled in opera, from its intimate beginnings in the late 16th century through the High Baroque, with music by Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Lully, Purcell, Handel, and others.

Stepping back 400 years to around 1200, the Notre Dame school of polyphony was prominent in mastering the change from single-voice chant to three- and four-part polyphony with the composer Pérotin being the impetus of this new style. Even though single-voice chant continued to thrive and grow, the excitement generated by the new multi-voice texture dominated European sacred music for centuries.

The development from the early Baroque style of Schütz to the high-Baroque masterpieces of Bach was a century in the making. Likewise, Monteverdi (who, along with Giovanni Gabrieli, was highly influential on Schütz) was a major authority in the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque. His Vespers of 1610 includes elements of both musical eras; at this time, the changes of style and fancy were lightning-fast. Monteverdi lived in both worlds.